LFW AW16: Five things we’re excited about this season

London Fashion Week is here, a week when the fashion world turns its head to the big designer names showing this season. But it’s not just the catwalk that will be grabbing our attention this February. With announcements and rumours already circling, we give you five things to watch out for at LFW.

Topshop launches a fashion radio station

Can’t get fashion week tickets? Tired of livestreams? Want to covertly listen to fashion designers talk about how they get inspired through your headphones? Well Topshop has you covered. This season they are giving their NEWGEN designers airtime with daily two hour radio shows, expect mic time from Claire Barrow, Ryan Lo and more….

Alexander McQueen Comes Home

In a bit of a twist (what else would we expect for the controversial brand?) McQueen is breaking a 13-year tradition of displaying its collections at Paris Fashion Week by instead showing in London. Despite this only being for a season, it will be a welcome return for the brand, with the city already caught up in McQueen fever after the sold out Savage Beauty exhibition last year.

Approaching the brand’s 23rd birthday, it’ll be interesting to see what Creative Director Sarah Burton can bring back to Fashion Week – perhaps an homage to the late Londoner Lee McQueen himself?

The Alexander McQueen AW16 show will live stream on Sunday 21st February at 7pm GMT. Watch it live on Twitter #LFWhttps://t.co/1NyVUPnb6Q

Ever felt like you would be the perfect addition to the Cara and Kendall friendship? Guilty as charged. Well this Fashion Week we get the chance to get up close and personal with the next best thing. Selfie sticks and pout at the ready.

Delevingne and Jenner are the latest stars to received the Madame Tussauds treatment for a special LFW attraction at the museum from now until 21 February, complete with a runway overlooked by Anna Wintour (wax of course). We can’t be the judge of how realistic the counterparts are just yet, but what we can be sure of is that they will be fabulously dressed, with Delevingne wearing a Saint Laurent dress – it is fashion week after all.

Fashion Weekend Goes Public

With catwalks now streaming online and collections circling Instagram before they have even finished, Fashion Week has become increasingly accessible to the public. The British Fashion Council are the latest to jump on the band wagon as part of London Fashion Weekend. This season us mere mortals will be able to buy the most coveted tickets, usually reserved for fashion’s elite.

Mary Katrantzou and Emilia Wickstead are just two designers showing their collections at the event held at the Saatchi Gallery, with more to be announced. With tickets at only 20 quid, they are sure to get snapped up quick!

Goodbye Giles!

With collections constantly churned out and sellability valued over creativity, the flurry of designers abandoning ready-to-wear collections in favour of couture is actually unsurprising. With this, Giles Deacon is the latest to announce that he is leaving London and claiming a spot in the Paris Couture schedule.

With a new focus on the red carpet and private clients (such as Cate Blanchett and Solange) it will be a welcome respite from relentless mid-season collections – but it’s not all doom and gloom. Deacon has said he is “still very much going to do ready-to-wear”. Hurrah!